Now that the US election is over and the democratic party has their
"supermajority", what will it mean to archeology in general and difussion in
particular? Will it be a period of "change" as espoused by Obama the
candidate?

Another democrat, FDR, gave us
Columbus Day to pacify the Italian American lobby and after a few generations,
only Columbus is recognised as sole "discoverer" of the Americas, despite the
fact that many maps extant long before Columbus' voyages seem to depict or
at least allude to the western continents.

Will the US "change" its official
attitude regarding other, earlier explorers? Will it "change" the way funding
for such research is allocated? Not right away, so don't expect a big grant
to investigate Prince Madoc real soon. Mande speakers in Central America are a
maybe, however.

What I predict will likely happen
within the next two years:

NAGPRA will be expanded and result
in US domestic pre-historic archeology coming to a virtual standstill.
Historic archeology will either have to absorb all those who now specialize in
pre-historic archeology or those folks will go elsewhere (either go to digs
overseas or leave archeology altogether).

Marine archeologists will find
themselves following rules devised by UNESCO and those archeologists, salvors,
and treasure hunters will only be able to work under the direct supervision of
a UNESCO -approved agent. They all will have to pay the UN for that agent's
"services". Any wrecks and cargo salvaged in international waters will be the
property of the UN with up to 12% of the value for salvors' expenses. The UN
will not require curation, only financial record keeping. In other words, no
one is going to be anxious to explore any new wrecks. At least, not
openly.

So that covers the
immediate "change" for three different professions. What about those of us
who are armchair or avocational researchers? We just keep doing what we do. The
only up side is that all those out of work archeologists may have more time and
be more inclined to read our stuff. Now THAT would be a
change.

This section is for you, the audience. You
are welcome to contribute to it. Submit your "stuff" to

This Day in History: ...

A former
Illinois congressman, Abraham Lincoln, defeats three other candidates for the
presidency.
1861:
Jefferson Davis is elected to a six-year term as president of the Confederacy.
1869: The first intercollegiate soccer game is played (Rutgers 6,
Princeton 4). 1917: Russian Bolshevik revolution begins.

My
dad severed his left thumb five hours before last week's show. My kudos to
the physician, Dr. Sopporum, she stitched it back rather nicely and the color is
fairly good. Then he reacted badly to the antibiotic. The thumb looks good, but
his eyes are still quite swollen. The prognosis is for complete recovery. He now
has a matched pair...same saw. Might be time for a new hobby.

It's been great weather here
this week, although it's clouding up now and a south wind smells like
rain.

Floating ramp' to preserve Welsh hillfort- 3 days agoVital work has been carried out to prevent erosion
damage to a historic hillfort in Wales. As part of a lottery-funded project,
footpath improvement and erosion control work has been...Excavations prove İzmir was much older than
thought- 3 days agoNew excavations have
revealed that İzmir (Turkey), once believed to be 5,000 years old, may be as old
as 8,500 years. Associate professor Zafer Derin of the Ege University
archeology...Ancient iceman probably has no modern relatives- 3 days agoOetzi, Italy's prehistoric iceman, probably does not have any
modern day descendants, according to a recent study. A team of Italian and
British scientists who sequenced his mitochondrial DNA -...Earliest example of Hebrew writing found on a
shard- 3 days agoFive lines of ancient
script on a shard of pottery could be the oldest example of Hebrew writing ever
discovered, an archaeologist in Israel says. The shard was found
by...7000-year-old mound excavated in Iran----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

/|\

Ancient
Kentucke Historical Association

Newsletter

Nov. 23rd, 2:30 PMAKHA Meeting at Marilyn Michaels
home

Lee Pennington update on trip to Welsh Caves in Ft. Payne, AL.; update on
the Ancient American Conference in Marquette, MI.

Nov. 29th, 2:00 PMFalls of
Ohio

Africa

It is one of the great ironies of
archaeology that the country thought now to be the very place where human history began
would for many years be consideredto have noreal history of its
own. From
medieval times on, the spectacular ruins of the southern African
kingdom ofgreat Zimbabwe could
not be accepted by European settlers as having been built by Africas native
people.

European experts proposed instead that
Zimbabwe was built by everyone from wandering Phoenicians to the biblical Queen
of Sheba, but certainly not Africans.

A
different story has now emerged not only of the fabulous lost city of Great
Zimbabwe, but also of the amazing Swahili Coast, which was a thriving trade
center of gold and ivory until
the 16th century.

After centuries of racial prejudice and
neglect, the world has come to realize the extraordinary achievements of
Africas indigenous people